On bankstocks.com, ex-Commerce Bank CEO Vernon Hill rips Citibank another… oh wait, I almost forgot, this is a family-friendly site. You’ll just have to take a look at what Mr. Hill has to say about Citi for yourself.
He does write, however, that if history is any guide, Citi’s board looks for leaders with the following qualifications:
- No banking experience
- No lending experience
- No CEO experience
- No management track record
- No vision
Hey! That’s me! Where do I apply?
Note to Citi: I’m not willing to relocate to NY, but I am willing to take the train down from Boston once every couple of weeks. And I want you to know that I’d be willing to take a seven-figure salary (that’s seven figures to the left of the decimal) at first, not eight figures, for some future upside. My email address is on the About page of this blog. I look forward to hearing from you.
Technorati Tags: Banking, Citigroup, Bankstocks.com, Vernon Hill
I checked out the blog referral you listed.
Words of truth. I’m glad somebody had the gumption to say it like it is.
One of Citibank’s headhunters called me a while back (I was VP for a small company at the time) and proceeded to get mad at me because I didn’t have any financial services experience. I not-so-nicely pointed out that they had called me, and maybe random cold calling to people they apparently didn’t know anything about wasn’t the best way to hire executives.
I started a Facebook group for your cause.
“Ron Shevlin For Next Citigroup CEO.”
Once you get in office however, you must engineer the first conversion ever from a bank to a credit union.
This whole impuning Citi over its recent CEOs’ “lack of experience” is reminiscent of what Hilary’s been trying to argue — wholly unsuccessfully — about why she’d be a better President than Barack.
The bottom line is that ALL the FIs are sucking gas these days. Even a life long banker and experienced CEO like John Mack “the Knife” had to so-humbly report a a multibillion dollar Q4 write down and even fire his 25-year Morgan Stanley vet and prodige Zoe Cruz who he told everyone he was grooming as his successor just 3 weeks earlier.
Bottom line in my mind is that the whole concept of “experience” as relates to bringing organizational value is wildly overhyped.
@Ted: Tom Brown at bankstocks.com has long been an outspoken and articulate critic of Citi, calling for its breakup. Now he’s got a partner in Hill who’s opinion carries a lot of weight.
@Dr. Pete: Careful there. That recruiter is probably the SVP, HR now.
@ Trey: Thank you for your support. A grass roots effort is unlikely to make it happen. There are two possible paths to take here:
1) Get a billion dollars. Invest it in Citi. Get on the board. Insert me as CEO.
or,
2) Make friends with the Prince who’s already on the board, and tell him what a great CEO I’d make.
Who says Citi doesn’t have vision? I think getting the same direct mail piece 4-5 times a week is visionary. Most other organizations would hold their marketing departments accountable for the wasteful expenditures.
Sounds like you are over qualified. I hope you remember the rest of us when you are sitting in the corner suite.
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Thanks, Gavin. Don’t you worry about me forgetting about all the little people who I had to step on and crawl over on my way to the top!
Funny how someone like me, who spent so much time sitting on the corner stool during school, could one day sit in the corner suite at work.
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